Pabbay
by Kirina
Summary: The 70s were dark times indeed, and for those with more than their natural share of darkness, maybe the worst times of their lives... or maybe the best. But even among friends, can the shadows that have dwelt within remain hidden? UPDATED! 2 new chapters!
1. Cloudless Horizon

Pabbay  
  
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe is J.K.R. 's. All the Original Characters are mine, and so is the plot. Author's Note: I know; the chances of there being two werewolves of the same age and the same nationality is unlikely, but it's possible (or would be- you know what I mean), and this is fanfic. Besides, Kerynn... she's ma girl, y'know? My first fanfic OC, and she takes a little getting-to-know, but give her a chance, okay? And this isn't first person, and it isn't "her story", though there may be chapters where some of the other characters are absent or take a back seat, but aren't there in most fics? So just read it like any other MWPP, and spread the word that they are NOT the Marauders, that chapter title is SINGLE 'Marauder' APOSTROPHE 's'- the map of the marauder, not of the Marauders! I apologise, I really do, it's just one of the few little things that narks me in this fandom... Sorry.  
  
Chapter 1: Cloudless Horizon  
Kerynn sat in the backseat of the car, looking out of the window at the cloudy sky, preoccupied with the nervous excitement of starting a new school. All the old school stories she'd read ran through her head: St Clare's, Mallory Towers, The Chalet School...  
_Today I leave for Hogwarts, and nothing can go wrong. For the first time in years it seems I feel relaxed and happy. My sister will take my place on the full moon, using the potion we brewed together. I am so grateful to her: ever since I was first afflicted I have felt a great weight on my shoulders, and now some of that is gone. I know that what I'm doing is dishonest, and if I'm found out it'll backfire and things will be worse than ever, but what choice do I have? No one in their right mind would ever be friends with me if they knew what I was, not with all the prejudices and misconceptions there are around... and they don't even know the half of it..._  
"Now remember," Kerynn's mother said as her father drove them into London, "all you have to do is walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. You should see the Hogwarts Express immediately-"  
"It's a great big red steam engine, can't miss it!" Carina added, grinning back at her sister from the front passenger seat- she was on her way to her new part-time job at the Ministry of Magic, the office for Werewolf Support Services.  
"Carina!" her mother snapped, and Carina's head disappeared round the chair again. "Anyway, yes, the Hogwarts Express is divided into compartments- try to find an empty one if possible- nothing's worse than spending the whole train journey stuck with people you don't get on with."  
"Kings Cross Station," her father announced.  
"Now, you have a good time, you here me? If you have any problems, any problems at all, you owl me and I'll sort it out for you, okay?"  
"Yes Mum," Kerynn replied, replacing her diary into her trunk and climbing out of the car. "Good luck at work, sis!"  
"You too, Wren. Don't get into too much trouble while you're there!" Carina said mock-severely, waving a finger at her.  
A look of understanding passed between them- they hadn't told their parents of their plan, but both of them knew it by heart. Carina had decided on her job choice the morning after Kerynn's first transformation, and now she would be starting work at last, and she could easily get the full moon off without arousing suspicion. Kerynn had devised a way of telling her sister what had happened that month so that Carina could play the part faultlessly, and Carina had practised 'being' her sister during the holidays. The plan was perfect, foolproof, no one could ever discover Kerynn's lycanthropy- well, unless that person was another werewolf, but what were the chances of that? Dumbledore had only become headmaster the previous year, and his predecessor had not taken kindly to what he considered 'beasts' being accepted to his school. And what were the chances of there being two werewolves of the same age, both attending Hogwarts? Slim to nothing, without question. And even if there was another werewolf, he or she wouldn't want his or her secret to be known any more than Kerynn wanted hers to be, so there wouldn't be a problem even then. In fact, maybe it would be a good thing if there was another werewolf at Hogwarts, maybe then someone would finally understand her, maybe then she wouldn't feel so alone all the time, maybe then she would feel more normal... Kerynn heaved her trunk out of the boot of the car, and put it down again quickly onto the trolley her father had fetched. Together they pushed the trolley up platform nine, past all the regular commuters, to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, where the gateway to platform 9 ¾ was concealed.  
"Thanks Dad," Kerynn said, taking the trolley from him.  
"Good luck at school, Kerry. Don't let things get you down, okay? You're to enjoy yourself, you hear? I won't let you allow it to take over your life, Wren; you're bigger than that. Do you understand? Promise me?"  
"Yes Dad, I won't," Kerynn replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. He was a good dad really, accepting the wizarding world the way he had. Anyone else would most likely have run a mile if they found out their partner and children all had magical powers, especially if one had been bitten by a werewolf, but not Monty, he'd just taken it in his stride.  
On impulse Kerynn hugged him- she was lucky to have a parent like him, and too often she didn't appreciate him as much as she felt she should. Her lycanthropy had caused Kerynn to grow up hard and fast, and she knew what it felt like to be treated like an outsider.  
"Thanks Dad," she said again, pulling away and preparing to go through the barrier- it was only ten minutes until the train was due to leave.  
"For what?" he asked, bewildered by his usually reserved daughter's sudden display of emotion.  
"For being there; and for being you. For everything."  
And with that she turned way and ran at the concealed gateway she knew was there, and disappeared from sight.  
"You're welcome," Monty replied, quietly, turning away from the platforms and walking back towards the car park, where his wife and eldest daughter waited for him in the car.  
  
Kerynn lifted her trunk from the trolley and dropped it heavily onto the floor. She carried it barely an inch off the ground, putting it down every few feet. She reached the train quite quickly, and set about pulling the trunk inside the carriage. Having succeeded with difficulty, she dragged the trunk behind her as she searched for an empty compartment. Just as she felt her arms were about to fall out of their sockets she found a compartment with only one occupant, a girl who looked about eleven with shoulder length black hair tied back in a low ponytail.  
"Hello," Kerynn said awkwardly. "Can I sit here?"  
"Sure!" the girl replied, grinning.  
Kerynn smiled back at her gratefully, and pulled her trunk into the compartment. That was when she noticed that there wasn't just the other girl's trunk in the compartment with them; there were others as well. Kerynn put her trunk in front of the window end of the bench seat opposite the girl and sat down.  
"I'm not intruding, am I?" she asked anxiously, indicating the other trunks.  
"Oh! Of course not, they're just my twin brother's and some people's. They should be back in a bit; there was some commotion down the other end of the train, something about someone's pet imp causing havoc. Speak of the devil."  
Just then a boy with the same shoulder-length black hair as the girl, also tied back in a low ponytail, came into the compartment, a huge grin on his face.  
"Hey girls," he said, flopping down onto the bench-seat on the same side as the other girl. "That imp's awesome, you should've seen what it did to some passing prefects! That's what I want for my next birthday!"  
The girl shook her head at him. "That's Sirius, my brother; unfortunately he's also a first year. I'm Tallibeth."  
"A.k.a. Tally," Sirius put in.  
"And you're better known as Sissy," Tallibeth replied scathingly.  
Kerynn grinned. "I'm Kerynn."  
"Kerry?" Sirius asked.  
"Or Wren," said Kerynn.  
"Jenny!" he crowed.  
Tallibeth rolled her eyes. "Ignore him, he's just hyperactive. I can't see why, he hates having to do any work, and as we're on our way to SCHOOL you'd imagine he'd be a bit more, I don't know, demure or something."  
"Please, this is me you're talking about. I may be Sirius by name, but I'm not by nature!"  
Kerynn laughed out loud, but Tallibeth just groaned.  
"See! See! I am funny! I am! Jenny thinks so, don't you Jen?"  
"I..." Kerynn looked between the twins, knowing that she had somehow got herself stuck between a rock and a hard place. "I'm not Jenny," she said, attempting to make use of the precise art of weaselling-out.  
"Nuh-uh, I'm the King of Weaselling-Out," said Sirius. "No one gets out of answering a question that easily; you're going to have to come up with something much better than that to throw me off the scent."  
"Okay, you're funny- "Kerynn conceded.  
"Ha! See? I win, I win, I win," Sirius chanted, interrupting her.  
"Weird funny, but still funny," Kerynn finished, grinning.  
Tallibeth's I'm-disappointed-in-you expression changed to one of delight, and she began laughing. Sirius' delighted expression fell to one of comic dejection, which just made Tally laugh harder. Before long Sirius was laughing too, and that's how the owners of the other trunks found the three of them: laughing and grinning so hard that their cheek muscles were starting to ache.  
"Err... did we miss something?" a slightly plump boy with blond hair asked, smiling uncertainly, his pale blue-grey eyes conveying his amusement.  
"No, no, it's nothing," Sirius said, as they all fought to keep a straight face. They succeeded for about ten seconds, then Kerynn met Tally's eyes and couldn't hold back a snort of laughter, which set them all off again.  
"Do you think they're mentally okay?" a girl with hazel coloured eyes and curly dark blonde hair asked, genuinely concerned about their sanity.  
"Arabella, this is Sirius we're talking about, he's never been mentally okay," a boy with out-of-control black hair and blue eyes reminded her.  
"That's true," the blond boy agreed.  
Kerynn fought to regain her composure, and this time succeeded. "I'm Kerynn Stevens," she introduced herself.  
"James Potter," the black-haired boy said, shaking her hand.  
"Peter Pettigrew," the blond boy introduced himself.  
"Arabella Figg."  
"Lily Evans," called a voice from behind the other three, and Kerynn saw a head of dark red curls bouncing into view between the heads of James and Arabella and caught a glimpse of emerald green eyes. "Nice to meet you there!" Lily's stopped bouncing, and disappeared from view again. "Guys, I saw another compartment just a bit further down the train, it's going to be a bit squashed in here if we all stay, so I think I'll go and sit there. Is it okay if I leave my trunk here?"  
"I'll come with you, Lils. You don't mind, do you chaps?"  
"Not at all," Sirius said, taking charge of the situation, as he had been the one to find the compartment first.  
"Cool. I'll race you Lils!" Kerynn saw flashes of dark red and blonde curls as the girls tore past the compartment, laughing with a carefree-ness that Kerynn envied.  
The five first-years left in Sirius' compartment spent the rest of the train journey playing exploding snap and chatting, and after the lady with the trolley came round they started playing 20 questions. The catch was that in James and Sirius' version of the game, the person who had the questions asked to them had to give the others clues at the start, and then they would only be allowed to make direct guesses- and if they got it wrong then they had to close their eyes and pick a Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean from the packet, which resulted in James having to choke down a Brussels sprout flavoured bean ("But I hate Brussels sprouts!" "Quit your whining, Jimmy!"); Kerynn having to eat a Beetroot flavour one; and Tallibeth pelting Sirius with the remainder after he announced that the 'small, fluffy, and dangerous' thing he had been talking about was his sister ("It was the perfect thing, though, 'cos even if someone had guessed it they wouldn't have dared say it out loud!" "Why you little-!").  
  
Rubeus Hagrid was standing on the Platform at Hogsmeade Station, waiting for the train to arrive. He glanced at his watch. Right on time the train pulled into the Platform, screeching to a halt. The doors opened, and students began piling out.  
"Firs'-years! Over here firs'-years! Follow me now, that all of yer? Right, c'mon firs'-years, this way!"  
Hagrid led the first years along a path, down to where the fleet of boats was waiting for them on the shore of the lake, ready to ferry them across.  
  
The first years all climbed into the boats; Kerynn found herself in a boat with Lily, Arabella and Tallibeth, while Sirius, James and Peter were in a boat with a boy with dusty brown hair. Their boats were too far away to tell, but Kerynn had a strange feeling about the other boy, almost as if she'd seen him before.  
Maybe you met him in Diagon Alley, or saw him on the platform, she reasoned with herself, and thought no more of it. That had to be the reason; either that or she was just imagining things. There simply wasn't any other possibility.  
Amazingly, by some miracle or other, everyone reached the harbour on the other side of the lake in one piece, and without falling into the lake; despite Hagrid making the mistake of yelling "Duck!" when they came to the ivy curtain, which caused both James and Sirius to stand up in the boat and call back "Where? Ahhh!" and throw themselves to the floor of the vessel just in time to avoid whacking their heads on the rock.  
"You guys are stupid!" Tallibeth berated them when they'd climbed out of their boats. "Really, really stupid! If you had hit your heads maybe it would've knocked a bit of sense into you!" The two black-haired boys sniggered in response.  
"So you're saying we shouldn't have ducked?" Sirius asked, innocently.  
"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Tallibeth agreed, hitting her brother round the back of the head.  
"C'mon you eight, keep up!" Hagrid called, and the group scuttled up to the rest of their year.  
They all followed the path up to the castle, and climbed the stone steps to the door. Hagrid knocked three times, and Professor McGonagall, her long black hair tied up in a bun and square glasses framing her eyes, opened the door. Seeing who it was McGonagall nodded and welcomed the first years inside.  
"You may leave them here, Hagrid. Welcome to Hogwarts, first-years. This castle will be your home whilst you're at school here, and your House will be like your family. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, all of which have produced some out-standing wizards and witches. Now if you'd please wait here, I will return when we are ready for you in the Great Hall."  
A murmur went round the room, and pretty soon everyone was talking.  
"Hey Lily, Arabella; any idea what the Sorting Ceremony's supposed to involve?" Tallibeth asked them.  
Lily shook her head. "I'm Muggle-born, the first witch in my family, "she explained.  
"I heard something about a pop-quiz on the set books," Arabella volunteered her information.  
"I thought it was something to do with singing," Peter said doubtfully, "that's what I thought I heard one of the prefects say as we got off the train."  
"That's not as silly an idea as it sounds, actually," James said. "They could sort you by what sort song you sing. If you sing a song about being evil you're a Slytherin, if you sing a song about being simple you're a Hufflepuff, if you sing a song about being a boffin you're a Ravenclaw, and if you sing a song about being brave you're a Gryffindor!"  
This earned James a few dirty looks, but before he could say anything else Sirius suddenly broke into song.  
"'Sing a song of Hogwarts, the start-of-year feast;  
"'First-years must be sorted, before the rest can eat;  
"'When they all have finished, it's to their dorms they go;  
"'Then they come back down again and run around in snow!'" Sirius sang to the tune of 'Sing A Song Of Sixpence', dancing up and down on the spot in a strange sort of jig.  
Everyone applauded, and Sirius took a bow.  
"Encore!" Arabella called, and the cry was echoed by others around the room.  
"Encore?" Sirius asked. "Alright then!  
"'Sing a song of teachers-'"  
"Very good, Mr. Black," came McGonagall's voice from behind him, interrupting him before he could sing anything further, "but I believe they are ready for us now. You'll have to give your encore another time."  
Sirius turned around guiltily and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry ma'am."  
  
The first years followed Professor McGonagall through the double doors into the Great Hall, and waited in line in front of a stool with a hat on it. It was a small year- only sixty or so students- but certain members of the group seemed as though they'd more than make up for the lack of other pupils their age.  
"When I call your name I'd like you to come forward, sit on the stool, and try on the Sorting Hat. Please do not do what students have done in the past, and sit on the hat."  
At this the Hall burst into laughter, and enough people turned to look at the Gryffindor table that it was obvious to pick out who the culprit was. A girl with wavy chestnut coloured hair had turned as red as a ripe tomato from embarrassment.  
"You told me to sit on the stool, so I did! I just forgot to pick the hat up first!" she objected above the gales of laughter that echoed around her.  
Sirius laughed, and turned to the others. "That's my sister Anna, I should have known she'd do that!"  
Prof. McGonagall cleared her throat and unrolled the parchment in her hands. "Black, Sirius!"  
The hat let out something that sounded oddly like a pointed cough.  
"Oh yes, of course. Wait a moment, Mr. Black."  
The hat just sat on the stool, completely unresponsive to the silence that followed. If the hat had been human, people may've been forgiven for thinking it was sulking.  
"Ummm..." Prof. McGonagall looked uncertainly at Dumbledore, who merely shrugged and shook his head, a slight smile on his face. "Well, okay then... Anderson, Thomas!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Ashfield, Patrick!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Avery, Claudius!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Berry, Logan!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Black, Sirius!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Black, Tallibeth!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Brocklehurst, Evan!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Brookline, Robyn!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Browning, Lynette!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Chester, Suzanne!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Cohen, Brian!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Dyson, Scott!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Evans, Lily!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Farmer, Allan!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Francis, Emma!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Goddard, Corinne!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Gray, Gene!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Harris, Faith!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Hedderwick, Lauren!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Henderson, Elizabeth!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Hilton, Victor!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Hunter, Pascal!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Hunter, Pascale!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Ingles, Jason!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Jones, Simiti!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Keeley, Jonathan!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"King, Julian!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Lestrange, Rabastan!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Little, Scott!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Lupin, Remus!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Matthews, Brandy!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"McCartney, Elaine!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Noble, Donna!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Olson, Dinah!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Pettigrew, Peter!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Pinter, Yves!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Potter, James!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Quinn, Roberta!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Richards, Carl!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Rogue, Marie!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Rosenberg, Bernadette!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Rosier, Evan!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Rowland, Clare!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Savino, Nicola!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Shaw, Kelly!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Smyth, Lionel!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Spiller, Jemima!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Stebbins, Joshua!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Stevens, Kerynn!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Sunn, Erin!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Thomas, Rosemary!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Travers, Polly!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Urwin, Jesse!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"Vickers, Tristan!"  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
"Weatherby, Aurora!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Wilkes, Reginald!"  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
"Williams, Casimira!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Wyndham, Michael!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Wyes, Michelle!"  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
"York, Douglas!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Food!" James exclaimed ecstatically, reaching for the plate of chicken nuggets and replacing it with his own.  
"Hey! Other people want chicken too!" Tallibeth protested, knocking James' hand away from what now appeared to be his own plate and grabbing a handful of chicken nuggets to put on her own plate.  
This appeared to be too much for Sirius, who already seemed as if he was going to burst with source-less excitement.  
"FOOD FIGHT!!!!!!" he shouted joyously, flinging some spinach at James- unfortunately it missed and hit Remus in the face.  
Sirius fell silent, waiting for the boy's reaction, unsure how the unknown party would receive this. At first Remus didn't react at all; then, very calmly, he picked the spinach off his face and put it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. The other boys looked as though Remus had just put live maggots into his mouth.  
"Yummy!" Remus announced his verdict, grinning manically, licking his lips with relish. Then, at the precise moment that Sirius' jaw had dropped, Remus impulsively aimed a spoonful of mashed potatoes in the direction of his mouth:  
"BULLSEYE!!!" James and Peter cried as the mashed potato landed inside Sirius' mouth.  
In shock Sirius swallowed, not realising the consequences of his actions, and Remus looked round at everyone nervously, not sure if he'd done the right thing.  
James, Peter, Tallibeth and Kerynn gasped in genuine horror. Sirius looked at them blankly.  
"What?" he asked.  
"You... you just ate... vegetables!" Tallibeth managed to say, still in shock. "Remus, right?"  
Remus nodded, uncertain of how his response would be received.  
"That was brilliant!!!!!" Tally exclaimed, pulling Remus into a bear hug, bouncing up and down in her seat. "I've never seen anything like it! Sirius eating vegetables! Pure GENIUS!!!!"  
"Yeah, that was wicked!" James agreed with a grin, offering his hand to Remus, who shook it obligingly, returning the grin.  
"Awesome!" said Peter admiringly, also shaking Remus' hand. Sirius looked around forlornly for support.  
"Aw, poor Siri!!!" Arabella cried sympathetically, throwing her arms around him.  
"Sorry Sirius," Remus apologised sheepishly, offering him his hand.  
"Sorry? Sorry? For that?" Sirius asked as though Remus had gone insane. "That was excellent!" he exclaimed, pumping Remus' hand enthusiastically. "Now where was I...?"  
"About to eat more vegetables," said Tally in a business like way, brandishing a large forkful of cauliflower.  
Sirius cowered in his seat, eyeing the offending item of food as though it would poison him. "Please... not cauliflower... anything but cauliflower," he begged, and received a forkful in the face from Peter.  
Sirius shot back well-aimed squirts of mustard and ketchup, which hit not only Peter, but also Bella and Lily. The two girls, who had previously been laughing at the antics of the boys, suddenly lost heir amused expressions. Anger flashed in Lily's eyes, and Bella's face set into a look of disappointed pity for the boy on the receiving end of the glare.  
"This," they declared in unison, "means war!"  
The food in front of them had changed to deserts, and Bella grabbed the nearest can of squirty cream and proceeded to spray it all over Sirius, then Kerynn, while Lily took the opportunity to flick roast parsnips across the table at the dark-haired boys, who retaliated with peas.  
"Hey, what'd I do?" Kerynn protested indignantly.  
Tally shrugged. "Food fight," she explained. "There's no logic in it anywhere."  
"Yup. Anything goes," Bella agreed.  
"Thought so," replied Kerynn, proceeding to pour custard on Bella's head.  
"My hair!" Bella screeched, feeling the gloop that now covered her curls with an expression of amused outrage while Tally delightedly poured jam sauce onto Peter and Remus. "Ooh, I'll get you back for that one," she threatened good-humouredly.  
The nearest thing to hand was a custard tart, which Arabella promptly threw it Kerynn, who ducked, causing the jam tart to hit the ground just in front of Professor McGonagall as she was walking past their table. The whole hall descended into silence as Professor McGonagall stared imperiously at the offending students. Slowly she bent down, picked up the tart, and walked over to where the eight new Gryffindor first-years sat. She replaced the tart on the table and looked around at the group, who were all attempting to hide smiles, some more successfully than others.  
"Detention for all of you; kitchens tomorrow night for the boys at 7:30, the girls meet Filch and Hagrid in the Entrance Hall at the same time. Boys congregate in the library, someone will meet you there to take you to the kitchens. I bid you goodnight."  
Lily and Kerynn looked aghast, and caught each others eye- this was not the start either of them had hoped for.  
"G'night, ma'am," James, Sirius and Tallibeth replied simultaneously in an innocent, sing-song-y voice. McGonagall stared at them suspiciously, but did nothing else.  
"One!" Sirius and James grinned at each other while Tallibeth and Peter looked at each other and rolled their eyes- it seemed that the Great Detention Race had already begun.  
  
##  
  
A/N: Okay, this is the start of the rewrite, taking into account some of the things we learnt in Book 5, but not all- as you can tell, Tally's still here, and you'll find out quite a bit later why Sirius doesn't mention her at all in canon (yes, she was burnt off the family tree too). Arabella Figg is NOT the squib who lives in Little Whinging, but her niece named after  
her. Not a lot has changed in this part, apart from the length of the Sorting that's included, but the point of the rewrite is to change little  
things whilst keeping true to my original plot :) Kirina 


	2. Morning Mists Roll In

Pabbay  
  
Disclaimer: Look at the name of this website. I do not own any of the copyrighted stuff. But Kerynn and Tally and Arabella (Jr.) are mine, as are the interpretations of James, Peter, Remus, Sirius, Lily et al.  
  
Author's Note: The title of this fic is from Douglas Adams and John Lloyd's book 'The Meaning of Liff', and refers to something I hope we'll get to see at least once later on ;-D And thank you to Darcy and Padmez, my first two reviewers (for this version!).  
  
Chapter 2: Morning Mists Roll In  
The next morning the four girls came down from their dorms yawning, and when they saw Sirius they all glared at him.  
"SISSY!" Talibeth roared, striding over to her brother. "You little... critter! I don't believe you went through with it!"  
"I sang it, Tally, you should have known I'd do it," Sirius countered.  
"I still don't know how you got the snow in here- or out. Charms aren't exactly your strong point."  
"But it was Transfiguration! You transfigure the roof to be full of holes, then transfigure the rain into snow- the House Elves must have cleared it up."  
"Listen, you, we got no sleep last night! Not even Lily could master the Silence charm before you'd stopped!" Arabella stormed.  
"Well, we did stop before midnight," James reasoned, the wide grin on his face cancelling out the sincerity in his voice.  
"Two minutes before midnight!" Lily cried crossly. "I nearly had it, too," she mused aloud.  
"Transfiguration after breakfast," Peter said, changing the subject.  
"Yup!" Sirius and James agreed happily.  
"Then it's... Potions then lunch then History of Magic then free period, am I right?" Kerynn asked Lily who had whipped out her timetable.  
"Yeah, you've got it Wren," Lily congratulated her.  
"You learnt your timetable whilst we were #Singing, and dancing in the snow-oh?#" Sirius asked, trying to sound incredulous as he sang the last part of the sentence, resulting in a rather odd sound that was neither pleasing to the ear nor remotely incredulous.  
Kerynn shrugged self-consciously. "Nothing better to do."  
"It's a good plan," Remus said, having come down from the dorm later than the other boys and joining them as they left the room via the portrait hole. "Couldn't find my textbook," he explained. "D' you know all the rooms?" he asked Kerynn.  
"Er- they're not numbered; the corridors are named though, but I don't know where most of them are. Potions is down in the dungeons, I know that much," Kerynn offered her information, and tried to figure out where she might have seen Remus before- his face didn't seem familiar, but there was something about him that made her almost sure that she should recognise him.  
"This way?" Lily asked, pointing down a corridor she thought would lead to the route back to the Great Hall.  
"Yep, and first staircase on your right," James said. "Then right again, left, left, straight on, right, and it's on your... left."  
The girls and Remus looked at him questioningly, but James just smiled mysteriously.  
"Photographic memory," Peter informed them as James led the way.  
  
Nothing much happened during the rest of September and first half of October, except for James, Sirius and Peter teaming up with Remus to plan their first series of pranks, scheduled for the week leading up to Halloween; while Tallibeth began to plan her own pranks, aided enthusiastically by Arabella, and slightly reluctantly by Lily and Kerynn.  
"C'mon you two, if Sissy thinks he's gonna get away with excluding me- I mean us- from his prank-pulling clique, we'll have to prove him wrong and show him that he'd rather have us with him than against him. I know more than a few effective tricks that Sirius hasn't managed to get his grubby paws on- he'll swear all his pranks are original, but just ask him what Llonolang Potion really is, and he won't have a clue: it's the key ingredient to one of my prank tools Sissy nicked from under my bed whilst I was at camp. He knows what it does, 'cos he gave some to Anna in her porridge the day before I left, but he has no idea what's in it or how it works. Anyway, what I mean is I- I mean we- have to show Sirius we're at least as good as he and his friends are at pulling pranks, and then- maybe- we'll allow them to team up with us. Together we'd go down in Hogwarts history! Not that we couldn't without them, but he is my twin after all, and if I show him up in front of the whole school he'll be unbearable during the holidays." Talibeth explained the situation the Lily and Kerynn.  
"Okay, I'm in," Lily relented.  
"Kerry?"  
"Yeah, sure. Thanks."  
"Great!"  
"And the girls have a full team to take on the boys in this season's starter match, starting in just three, count them, three days! Round one, the Halloween Howler and season opener; a weeklong prank bonanza, Gryffindor vs. Gryffindor, first years vs. first years, boys vs. girls, the most breath-taking and nail-biting prank contest to be held at Hogwarts in living memory! Roll up, roll up; get your tickets here! Bets accepted at the booth in the corner by Mr. Pettigrew, give us a wave there Peter! Thank you! And now, let me introduce the teams!"  
"SISSY!"  
"BETH!"  
The twins glared at each other.  
"70-30 split, winner takes more?" Tally asked, smiling innocently at here brother.  
"But of course," Sirius replied, smiling back, and the pair shook hands. "T'was nice doing business with you, fair lady."  
"T'was a pleasure on my part also, kind gentleman," Tally said with a curtsey.  
Lily and James shook their heads at their friends, wearing almost identical expressions of amusement- this sort of behaviour between the twins had already become the norm, and rarely a night went by in the Gryffindor common room when they didn't cause as scene.  
"Daft as a fruitcake," James pronounced.  
"Nutty as a... brush?" Peter asked, confused.  
"Exactly my friend!" Sirius cried. "One pack short of a picnic!"  
"And a sandwich short of a six pack... I think..."  
"Right you are, Remus!" Sirius slapped his friend on the back jovially.  
"Time for Charms, everyone," Kerynn said, looking at her watch, and looking through her bag to check she had the right books with her.  
"You on for tonight, Kerr?" James asked her.  
"Huh?"  
"Oh, yeah, you were talking to Corbie- Pyjama Party tonight in the Gryffindor common room, first year Gryffs only, you in?"  
"Sure, I guess so. Who else is coming?"  
"Me, Sirius, Peter, Remus... you..."  
"You mean the other girls aren't coming? I don't think-"  
"Well... they're still thinking about it. You'll talk to them, right?"  
"Okay..."  
"It should be fun. See you later."  
Kerynn put her books down on the second row, while James spread his across the back four desks to reserve them for him and his friends. The others entered together, the Hufflepuffs close behind. Arabella sat down next to Kerynn, and Lily and Tally joined them.  
"So are you going to this thing tonight?" Kerynn asked them.  
Tally groaned. "Tell me you didn't say yes, Kerynn, please!"  
Kerynn looked at her guiltily. "Was that wrong?"  
"Sirius. James. Us. Common room. Night. They may have aced Transfiguration the other day, but they couldn't do a charm to save their lives. I'd say it was bad, silencing charms are second year-standard, and that's the simplest sort for something like a birdcage. We'd get caught by a prefect for making too much noise at the least!" Tally explained.  
"Oh. Whoops. Lily?" Kerynn asked, pleadingly.  
"I could do it. Just the common room, right?"  
"Yep! You're the best, Lils!"  
"I'm in then," Arabella replied eagerly. "PJ Parties are groovy!"  
"Um, hello? Earth to Bella, Earth to Kerry, my brother and his friends will be there!"  
"So? I have pyjamas!" Arabella.  
"I can just transfigure my nightdress," Lily reasoned.  
"That's not what I meant," Tally said under her breath as their Charms teacher, Professor Philips entered.  
Prof. Philips was a tall, averagely built man with ginger hair and green-grey eyes.  
"Alright, class, settle down. Today I will be teaching you the lumination charm."  
"This ought to be interesting, we could use this one for that prank on the 28th," James whispered.  
"Potter! Come up here, you just volunteered yourself for my demonstration!"  
"But sir-"  
"No 'buts', James. Front of the class, if you don't mind."  
  
"TRUTH OR DARE!!!" James crowed as soon as all the girls had arrived in the common room and Lily had completed the Silencing charm. "Who wants to go first?"  
"I will," Arabella volunteered readily.  
"Bell..." Tally hissed at her, warningly.  
"I can handle anything they throw at me," Arabella replied reassuringly.  
"Truth or dare, Bella?" James asked.  
"Dare!"  
"Okay... if we may confer?"  
"Go ahead."  
The four boys formed a huddle, then sat back down in the circle grinning widely. Arabella appeared unfazed.  
"Nothing unsuitable, boys," Tally said sternly, glaring in particular at her brother.  
"Why, whatever do you mean?" Sirius replied, an extremely false- looking expression of innocence on his face. Talibeth just rolled her eyes.  
"Hop around the circle backwards..." James began.  
All four girls exchanged fake yawns.  
"So original," Tally complimented James sarcastically.  
"I'm not finished. Hop around the circle backwards, whilst singing 'In The Summertime' by Mungo Jerry, and wearing these slippers."  
Remus handed James a pair of slippers, which he held up before handing them to Arabella.  
"What's the hex?" she asked conversationally, pulling her own fluffy cat-shaped slippers off her feet.  
"Nothing dangerous," was the cryptic answer from Peter.  
"It better not be," Tally muttered.  
Arabella pulled on the slippers, stood up, and composed herself. She hopped on the spot a few times to get a feel for it, and then set off.  
"#In the summertime, when the weather is high, you can stretch right up, and touch the sky# -ah!" Arabella let out a cry of surprise, because the moment she had sang the word 'sky' she had suddenly found herself bounding up towards the ceiling.  
The four boys burst into fits of laughter, and Arabella soon joined them from where she had landed on the common room floor. Tally was glaring murderously at her brother, and was about to say something when Arabella spoke up, sensing her friend's mood.  
"Tally, I'm fine! It's okay, cushioning charms!"  
"Charms?" Talibeth asked, intrigued, looking expectantly at the boys.  
Remus raised his hand uncertainly. "That'd be me."  
Tally put her head in her hands and groaned. "Great, a Charms expert in the gang. Here I was thinking we'd be at least somewhat safe in our beds at night- okay, maybe we'd find our socks had been transfigured into gloves, or our robes had been transfigured to be sparkly pink, but now we could wake up to find ourselves floating in the middle of the Entrance Hall! With green hair and colour-changing eyebrows! And robes full of holes and dung bombs hidden in the seams! Combining transfiguration, charms and J, S and Co can spell only one thing for this world- doom! Dooooooooooom!!!"  
"Are they really that bad?" Kerynn asked her.  
"Worse. Trust me. I've known Sirius all my life, and James almost as long. Peter moved into the neighbourhood when he was eight. The Terrible Trio wreaked havoc wherever they went. Now, with Remus, they can go to previously unforeseen lengths to make our lives hell for the next seven years."  
"Can I take offence at this point?" Remus asked.  
"Let my join you, Remi," Sirius agreed. "I must protest to these falsehoods my sister is sprouting about me."  
"'Sprouting'?" Tally asked.  
Sirius shrugged. "Ah, it sounded good in my head."  
"Yes, Remus, I grant you the right to appeal. You, however, Sirius, have no rights at all other than to remain silent- you cannot protest my remarks because they are all true."  
"No they're not! Before Peter came, me and James were the Terrible Twosome; after Peter arrived we were the Troublesome Trio!"  
Talibeth chose to ignore her twin's statement and turned to face the newest member of the 'gang'. "Remus?"  
"I'm just offended that you think we would make your lives hell."  
"Yeah, you're not the only available target now, Beth; there are Slytherins here, and teachers, and Prefects... the list goes on," James reasoned.  
"We had to practise our pranks on someone, or they'd never have reached the standard they have," Sirius reasoned.  
"Yeah, well, you owe me for more than 'co-operating' with your prank- tests, Sissy."  
"Will you stop calling me that?"  
"Not while you refuse to act your name."  
Sirius glowered at her.  
"What do you mean, about us owing you more?" Peter asked.  
"Well now, that's the question, isn't it? Why don't you tell them, Sirius?" Tallibeth challenged.  
"Err..." Sirius faltered.  
"Okay, okay, I see you're not ready to come clean. What about you just tell them about the Llonolang potion?"  
"It's a secret recipe, you know that Tally," James objected.  
"Only because Sirius doesn't know the recipe, because Sirius didn't invent the potion, did you, Sissy?"  
"It was her," Sirius muttered, glowering at his twin sister. "And so were four of the other prank ideas. That's why she got so mad sometimes when we pranked her, 'cos she'd spent so long working on the pranks and I just took them."  
"Sirius!" James cried. "Please, just tell me she didn't think up the Cascade prank."  
"Oh no, that one I took from him. If I do say so myself, it's quite a prank- but it did need a few... additions and alterations. Here." Talibeth handed Sirius a piece of parchment. "Oh, and don't worry- we're not using it in the Halloween Howler, you can do that. Just think of it as an apology for that time when I dropped that dung bomb in the car and let you take the blame."  
"Thanks sis," Sirius breathed, staring at the piece of parchment in wonder. "This is brilliant!"  
"Anything for my favourite brother," Tally said, hugging him.  
"My turn?" Lily asked. "For the truth or dare?"  
"Oh yeah! Truth or dare, Lils?" Arabella asked.  
"Dare," she replied, after some thought. James looked at her surprised.  
"I thought you'd pick truth," he blurted out.  
"Shows how well you know me," Lily countered with a smile.  
"Got it! You have to sing the chorus of 'Even The Bad Times Are Good' whilst running around in a circle, blindfold!" Arabella announced.  
"Okay! #Even the bad times are good, soon as I get to you bay-bee! You just gotta hold me, and even the bad times are good... even the bad times are good, soon as I get to you bay-bee! You just gotta kiss me, and even the bad times are good...! La, la-la la-la la la la, la! La, la-la la-la la la la, la! Even the bad times are good! Soon as I get to you bay-bee! #" The hysterical laughter of the others finally got to her, and Lily finally collapsed, laughing, on the ground, which was spinning violently beneath her. "I am so dizzy," she stated un-necessarily, lying on the ground and holding on the rug as though for dear life. When she had recovered enough to stand up, with Kerynn's help, she made her way back over to the circle, weaving as though she was blind drunk, and sat down quickly in her place. Her eyes focussed on the person on her right, and she grinned.  
"Peter, mate! Truth or dare?"  
"Truth."  
"Okay... um... what's your biggest fear?"  
"You-Know-Who."  
"Err... sorry, I don't."  
"He Who Must Not Be Named," Peter clarified.  
"Oh, him! Right. Sorry."  
"S' okay."  
"Why?" Arabella asked curiously, and characteristically to the point.  
"He killed my dad. I was eight years old."  
"I'm sorry, Peter," Arabella replied immediately, reaching over Lily to give him a comforting hug.  
"It's okay," he replied again, awkwardly. "Tally, you're turn."  
"I never knew. Three years, and I never even asked. I'm sorry, Pete."  
"Stop it, it's fine, really," he replied embarrassed as Tally gave him a hug. "Truth or dare?"  
"Truth."  
Sirius stared at his sister.  
"What? I fancied a change, I always pick dare!"  
"Okay..."  
"Favourite Quidditch team," Lily mouthed.  
"What's your favourite Quidditch team?" Peter asked.  
"Moutohora Macaws." Talibeth replied immediately.  
"TRAITOR!" Sirius cried. "How could you? You know who the best Quidditch team is! The Blacks have supported them for generations! The Montrose Magpies!"  
"Well, they're both M 'n' Ms," Tally reasoned.  
"But the Macaws are in Kiwi-land, you can't even see them play!"  
"Sissy, get over it, I don't like the Magpies!" Talibeth snapped. "Kerynn, your go- truth or dare?"  
"Er... truth," she replied finally.  
"Okay, say one or two words to describe each person here, the first word that pops into your head."  
"Okay." Kerynn turned to look at Tally consideringly. "Carefree." She turned to Peter. "Loyal [A/N: yes, I know, the irony- but in future chapters you'll see why]." She turned to Lily. "Free spirit." She turned to Arabella. "Wacky." Everyone chuckled at this, and Arabella smiled happily. Kerynn turned to James. "Joker." She turned to Sirius. "Rash." Everyone but Kerynn and Sirius laughed even harder at this, while Kerynn turned to face Remus. "Mysterious." Everyone stopped laughing and looked at Kerynn curiously.  
"Mysterious? Remi-J?" Lily asked.  
"Hang on, before we go into that, why am I a rash?" Sirius asked, somewhat affronted.  
"Not a rash, rash. It means you act first and think later," Tallibeth replied for her, rolling her eyes.  
"My turn now, right?" Remus asked, looking at Kerynn with an unreadable expression of his face, as though he was trying to figure something out about her, but Kerynn's expression, although smiling, was just as closed.  
"Yep. Truth or dare?" she asked.  
"Dare," replied Remus, after some thought.  
"Okay. Caeruleus," Kerynn muttered, her wand pointed at Remus' head.  
Remus looked up, startled, and the others burst out laughing.  
"You have to go around like that for all of tomorrow," Kerynn said, grinning at him.  
Remus got up and went over to the mirror near the fireplace, and jumped backwards. His hair was now bright blue.  
Slowly a smile spread across his face. "Okay," he agreed, and rejoined the circle. "Your turn, Sirius. Truth or dare?"  
"Dare."  
"Okay!" Remus grinned, and pulled out his wand. "Capillus Slytherin!"  
Sirius jumped up and went over to the mirror, whilst the others sniggered. Sirius' hair was now streaked green and silver.  
"Whilst on principle I should be outraged, I've got to say I like it! Just for tomorrow, right?"  
"Right," Remus agreed.  
"Jamie, it's you're turn now! Truth or dare?"  
"Hmm... you have to ask?"  
"It's tradition, Jim-Lad," Tally said, bored.  
"Dare then," James replied.  
"The ear-thing! The ear-thing!" Sirius cried enthusiastically. "Auris engorgio et acutus!"  
Immediately James' ears grow to three times their usual size and became pointed.  
"Sirius, that's the fifth time in a row you've made me do this dare," James complained.  
"Nuh-uh! This time you have to stay like that for two days!"  
James sighed. "Okay, but you're not allowed to use it as a dare any more, okay?"  
"Okay," Sirius replied, satisfied.  
  
"Potter! Lupin! Black! Pettigrew! Detention!" Professor McGonagall screeched as soon as she saw them that morning.  
"What did we do?" cried Anna and Talibeth in outrage, standing up at the same time, whilst Sirius remained seated, calmly eating his bacon.  
"Not you! Him!" McGonagall stormed over to the Gryffindor table. "Now, I like to think of myself as a reasonable person, but this blatant disregard for school rules will not be tolerated! Detention tonight in the Forest with Filch! You will be collecting fire wood for the school, and don't expect to just be crawling around on the forest floor for it!"  
As McGonagall made her way back to the Staff Table, James and Sirius exchanged a high-five.  
"Eighteen!" James said with a grin.  
"Ten," Peter admitted glumly as his newly-spaniel-like ears flopped about his face.  
"I thought you weren't taking part?" Sirius asked him.  
"I wasn't! But I might as well, I get enough without even trying!"  
"Aw, poor Pete," Tally said sympathetically.  
"Well, I beat both of you- twenty six! Three per week for the last nine weeks- I'm good!"  
"How did you get that many more than me?" James asked, flabbergasted.  
"Easy! I don't have an Invisibility Cloak, do I?"  
"Keep your voices down! Do you want it to be confiscated?" Tallibeth hissed.  
Suddenly a cry went up from the Ravenclaw table, and there were students standing on their chairs and running out of the Hall.  
"Julian? Julian!"  
"What's up over there?" Peter asked, and the others shook their heads, except for Arabella.  
"Julian Chambers isn't here. He didn't turn up for tea, and no one saw him last night. He never misses breakfast."  
"He's a first year, he came into that compartment me and Lily went into on the train a few minutes before we arrived," Lily explained.  
"Students, please, remain calm. I'm sure Mr. Chambers will turn up. Make your way to your first lessons as normal, I will have the castle searched. Prefects, Head Students, if you could come with me...?"  
  
##  
  
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you liked the second chapter. Alterations have been made, but not many, and yes the characters will be as they are described in the fifth book to an extent (as I said before) but I'm not going to change my plot. Anna is just Anna; she's not canon and I'm not going to try to make her canon; so please just forget about the family  
tree when it comes to her! Kirina


	3. Shadows

Pabbay

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter 'verse, but I do own my characters and the way I've interpreted J.K.R.'s characters. Oh, and I don't _really_ own Professor Smith. As you can probably guess, he's modelled off Agent Smith from The Matrix, and most of what he says is almost identical to what his Agent counterpart says in The Matrix.

This chapter is dedicated to Weasy. Also, any and all strange symbols are just asterisks, indicating that an explanation is at the bottom of the fic if you need it! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've just had so much stuff to deal with in rl, and my muse was being extremely temporamental! But to make up for it I'm posting two chapters tonight. Give me a shout if the formatting's more off than I caught, I'm still not sure what characters and combinations thereof this site objects to for whatever obscure reason.

Chapter 3: Shadows

As the Gryffindor first years sat down to tea that evening, the mood in the Great Hall was much more sombre than it had been that morning. Julian hadn't turned up, even though Dumbledore and the Prefects had been searching the castle all day. And as if that wasn't enough, a second year Hufflepuff and a sixth year Slytherin had also gone missing and couldn't be found. Everyone was looking around nervously, as though expecting to be the next victim of the disappearances.

Cries of 'where's so-and-so' were echoed in increasingly panicked voices around the hall, until the door opened and the person in question would walk in, having been held up by a teacher or a toilet-stop.

"Bella! Where's Bella?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"Right here, dimwit," a voice said from under the table. Sirius poked his own head under the table, and came face-to-face with Arabella.

"What are you doing under here?" he asked her.

"I dropped my fork, _Dad_," replied Arabella, rolling her eyes, and then disappearing above the table again. Sirius sat up and looked around the table.

"Students, if I may have your attention? Tonight the castle and the grounds will be searched thoroughly for the missing students, and I would like you all to remain calm. When you are walking around the castle, I would like you to do so in groups of three or more. Please do not be alarmed at any rumours you may here, because they are no more than that- rumours. The security around the castle will be tightened, and rule breaking will be looked upon most severely. I don't believe now is an appropriate time for practical jokes or the like." Dumbledore's eyes flicked to the Gryffindor table, then the Ravenclaw table where three identical girls with blonde hair were looking slightly disappointed but understanding. "You may continue with your meal, and then please return to your House common room or dormitories."

Halloween came and went, with only a small feast to mark its passing. The mood in the castle dropped so low that not even Sirius joked around anymore, and if a Dementor happened to be in the neighbourhood even it would be put off by the aura of depression emanating from the castle. And then it happened.

"Carina!" Kerynn hissed into the fireplace of a deserted classroom, of which she had locked and barricaded the door.

"I'm here, Kerry," Carina whispered back, her head emerging from the flames.

"Did you get my letter?"

"Yeah. I memorised it all. It's going to be fine, Kerry, don't worry about it. I did okay the last two times, didn't I?" asked Carina, climbing out of the fireplace with some difficulty.

"Yeah, I suppose you did. Just don't mess it up, okay?"

"I won't. You better get going; Pomfrey won't be too happy if you're late."

"Yeah. Thanks, sis." Kerynn hugged her sister tightly, tears pricking at her eyes. "Thank you."

"Hey, it's okay, Wren. Anything for my little Jenny."

"Thanks 'Rina. See you tomorrow?"

"I'll see you nine o' clock sharp. Now get going!"

"Thank you," Kerynn repeated again, removing the barricade, unlocking the door, and disappearing out of the door.

Carina produced a small flask from her shoulder bag and swallowed a mouthful of whatever substance was inside it. Immediately she felt the potion taking effect, and in less than a minute Carina was no longer there. Instead, in her place, was Kerynn. Or was it Kerynn?

Studying herself in the pocket mirror, Kerynn shook her head, and looked down at her too-large robes. "I tell you, I'll _never_ get used to this. It's just _freaky_. James has messy black hair, Sirius has long black hair, Remus has dusty brown hair, and Peter's got blond hair. Lily is the redhead, Arabella has curly dark blonde hair, and Tallibeth has long black hair. Sirius and Tallibeth are twins; they have an older sister called Anne- no, Anna, that's it. Anna, Anna, Anna."

As if just remembering something, 'Kerynn' rummaged in her bag, and produced another robe and pair of shoes, which she changed into quickly before looking up at the clock.

"Shit, dinner time," she cursed, dumping her old clothes into her bag, swinging her bag onto her shoulder before tearing out of the classroom and down to the Great Hall.

"Kerynn!" Tally cried, throwing her arms around her friend. "I was so worried, I thought the kidnapper had got you!"

"Sorry, I had to-"

"I know, you had to find that History book you dropped, but you were looking for half an hour!" Arabella put in.

"I thought I knew where it was, but it wasn't there, so I looked somewhere else, and it took me a while to find it."

Lily looked at her friend sceptically, but didn't say anything.

"You didn't see Remus while you were looking, did you?" Peter asked her.

"Remus? No, I didn't, wasn't he with you?"

"He was, then he said he had to see Dumbledore about something and disappeared. That was almost two hours ago." James was looking worried, glancing around at the doors every few seconds as though expecting Remus to run through them, but the doors stayed firmly shut.

"I'm sure he's just gone to the library or something, maybe he wasn't hungry," Kerynn suggested.

"Or maybe his mother's had another relapse," Lily suggested. "Perhaps he had to go and see her again, like last month. She must be really ill, maybe that's what he wanted to talk to Dumbledore about."

"Yeah, that's possible," Arabella agreed.

"Too many 'maybes' if you ask me," Tallibeth said darkly. "Eleven students have disappeared in the last week, maybe Remus is the twelfth."

"Tally, that sort of talk doesn't help anyone," Anna butted in crossly. "Lily's right, he's probably just visiting his mother."

"Wouldn't he have told us, though, what with everything that's been going on?" asked Peter.

"Yeah, Remus isn't the sort of guy to go off without telling anyone in a situation like this," James agreed.

"Lets wait until tomorrow, if he hasn't turned up then we'll go to Dumbledore," Sirius decided.

"That's a good plan," Kerynn said, a thought striking her- nearly three months at the Office for Werewolf Support Services hadn't taught her to ignore the signs.

"Marian's gone!" a Ravenclaw girl cried, running into the Hall, distressed. It was one of the blonde girls whom Dumbledore had looked at during his first speech to them.

The other blonde girl stood up and ran towards her, and they hugged each other tightly.

"What do you mean, Karen?" Dumbledore asked, walking over to the two girls.

"We- the three of us- were in the library, studying, and didn't see the time- I saw it was time for tea, and Marian said she just wanted to finish her Transfiguration paper, and not to wait for her. So Dorian and me came in here, had something to eat, and then I brought some sandwiches up for her. I left them outside the library, and went in to find her. I looked all through the library for her, but I couldn't find her, so I went to the common room and the girls dormitories, but she wasn't there either, so I looked in all the girls loos, then asked Madam Pince if she'd seen Marian, and she said 'not since she'd left soon after I had'!"

"Sir, if you know what might have happened to her, you have to tell us!" Dorian blurted out. "She's our sister!"

"What makes you think I know something, Miss Elmer?" Dumbledore asked.

"Just... what someone was saying... in Arithmancy," Dorian mumbled.

"Let me assure you," Dumbledore began, loudly enough for the whole hall to hear, "I know as much and as little as you know about this matter. I am not keeping anything from you, so please ignore these rumours. Now, if anyone _does_ have any idea who's behind this, they should come to my office. You have my word that the meetings will be entirely confidential."

"But we _know_ who's behind it, isn't it obvious?" a Gryffindor second year said, loudly. "It's the Death Eaters!"

"Don't be a dumb-ass, Anthony, the Death Eaters won't be behind it! Since when did they do anything of their own accord? It's You-Know-Who!" a fourth year Gryffindor boy argued.

"You're the dumb-ass, Matt, why would Voldemort kidnap kids? It'll be a Lethifold or something!" another fourth year Gryffindor boy contradicted both of them.

"Daniel, Lethifolds only live in tropical climates," a fourth year girl interrupted them.

"Shut up, Grace!" Daniel and Matt said in unison.

"Yeah, shut up, Grace," Anthony echoed.

Grace turned away from them, shaking her head. "I reckon it's just the castle, there are all sorts of secret rooms and stuff, maybe they all somehow ended up in one of them."

"That's just stupid, Grace," Daniel sneered.

"Was she talking to you? I think not. I think it's a more plausible idea than _yours_- Lethifold indeed!" Megan scoffed.

"Yeah? At least he had a theory!"

"Just go away, Matt," Grace said tiredly. "Jerks," she muttered, and Megan nodded whole-heartedly.

"We heard that, dork!" said Daniel threateningly.

"Yeah, well, what ya gonna do about it?" Grace countered tiredly.

Daniel glared at her. "I hate you, dork-face!" he said out of the blue, and stormed off out of the hall.

"Where did that come from?" Grace asked, bewildered and slightly hurt.

"I reckon he likes you," Laura said thoughtfully.

"Daniel? Likes _me?_ That'd be the joke of the century," Grace replied, rolling her eyes. "Didn't you hear a word he said?"

"Well, they do say that guys are always horrible to the ones they like," said Megan.

"Yeah, Daniel _likes_ you, Grace," Laura insisted.

"Like I'd care if he _did!_ He's a _jerk!" _Grace said, making a face.

"He may be a jerk, but he's a cute jerk," Laura countered.

"Ewww!" Grace exclaimed in disgust. "That's just... Ewww!"

The next day, at nine o' clock, Kerynn told Tallibeth that she had a headache, and took her bag with her to the hospital wing.

"I'll get some food there, don't wait for me in breakfast."

"Okay, see you Kerry."

"Bye Tally."

Kerynn ran up to the hospital wing just as Remus was coming down the stairs.

"Remus! Hurry, the guys are going to Dumbledore about you, they think you were kidnapped! Your mother ill again?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Thanks Kerynn; I'll see you in Herbology. You okay?" Remus had started to run down the stairs, and then turned back as though just registering the fact that Kerynn was on her way to the Hospital Wing.

"Just a headache. Go, go!" Kerynn urged, cutting herself off, and Remus took her advice and sprinted off towards Dumbledore's office.

Kerynn continued up the stairs, and entered the Hospital room quickly and dashed over to the cubicle where her sister lay, pulling the curtains aside then closed again quickly.

"What happened?" the real Kerynn asked.

"I just saw Remus- he said he'd been visiting his mother again last night; he left without telling anyone and they all thought he'd been kidnapped and were going to tell Dumbledore this morning, but he ought to catch them in time. Marian, one of the Ravenclaw triplets, disappeared last night whilst we were eating tea, and Dumbledore says he knows no more than us about this whole disappearance thing. He asked anyone who thinks they know anything to go to his office for a confidential meeting. You?"

"Not much progress. I've mastered the memory recall thing, but that's supposed to happen around my age. I'm starting to master the passenger thing we talked about- I remember actually _being_ there this time, first hand, rather than remembering it like I would a dream, which is how the recall thing works. Are you sure nothing else happened?"

"I was a bit late for tea, Tally and the others worried, and Lily looked at me oddly when I said it took me a while to find my book- I think she didn't believe me; she didn't say anything, though. Maybe we should leave it a bit later next time, maybe after tea rather than before?"

"I'll check it with Pomfrey," Kerynn promised. "You'd better get back to work."

"Take me to fireplace then," Carina prompted, changing into her old robes and shoes as her normal features began to replace those of her sister's.

"Sure thing. _Reducio_," Kerynn muttered, and her sister shrank until she would fit comfortably inside Kerynn's pocket. Carefully Kerynn lifted the shrunken Carina into her pocket, then pulled aside the curtains. "Thanks Madam Pomfrey!" Kerynn called.

"Get going, you're late for class!" came the reply from the nurse's office.

Kerynn ran towards the room she had been in last night, put her sister on the ground, and pointed her wand at her. "_Engorgio!"_ Kerynn muttered. "Gotta go, sis, write to you soon, love you!" she said hurriedly, and rushed out of the room at top speed.

Carina, now her normal size, rubbed her head. "I'm going to be bruised all over," she muttered, kneeling down by the fireplace. "_Incendio_," she muttered, pointing her wand at the fireplace. Then she stood up and put a pinch of Floo Powder into the fire that now burnt in the fireplace. "Liquorice," she whispered, then stepped into the flames. "The Office for Werewolf Support Services." (#)

"Wait!" Remus cried, spotting James, Sirius and Peter outside Dumbledore's office, and putting on an extra burst of speed.

James and the others turned around, and saw Remus sprinting towards them

"Remi! You're here! Are you okay?" James asked.

"Yeah... Fine..." Remus replied breathlessly, clutching a stitch in his side. "Mum... had a relapse... had to dash off... no time to tell you... sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Is she okay? What's wrong with her?" Sirius asked.

"Er... they don't know yet. Nothing fatal, but it's pretty bad, and keeps coming back unexpectedly."

"But she's okay now, right?"

"They think so."

"Maybe we should send her a card or something," Peter suggested.

"No! See, I... don't know what hospital it is, I travel by Floo Powder from Hogsmeade, I only know the... ward name!" Remus invented desperately.

"We could try to find out, I'm sure Dumbledore would be able to tell us, or point us in the right direction."

"That he could," muttered the werewolf under his breath, darkly. "Really, guys, its okay. She's fine now."

"For sure?"

"Yeah. For sure," Remus assured them, forcing a smile. _Damn, now I've got to think of another story. I **hate **this! _"Come on, let's get to Herbology. Smith gets really annoyed if we're late, especially now."

"Yeah, you're right, lets go," Peter agreed, and they set off for their lesson.

"Welcome to class, Mister Lupin, Mister Potter, Mister Black, Mister Pettigrew. So nice of you to join us."

"Sorry we're late, Professor Smith," Remus apologised.

"I dropped my books all over the floor, they were helping me," James said quickly.

Professor Smith looked at Remus sharply, and then cast his gaze over the others. "Very well. Please take your seats, gentlemen. Four points from Gryffindor- make that five; good afternoon, Miss Stevens."

"Sorry sir- I'd left my quills in my dormitory."

"Yes, well. You will remember them in future, I hope."

"Yes sir."

"Take a seat, Miss Stevens. Now, as you can see, we've had our eyes on these Gillyweed plants for quite some time, class. It seems to me there are _two_ types- one is the Common Gillyweed, the one you are all well acquainted with by now, I hope; but the other is very rare, and that is the one we shall now be looking at now. Now, I shall give Gryffindor a chance to wipe the slate clean, win back the points they have lost, and all I ask for in return is their co-operation in 'acing' this experiment. You will co-operate, I trust?" Professor Smith asked, turning to face the Gryffindors who had arrived late.

"Yes, sir," they chorused.

"Good. Now listen carefully as I explain the exact details of what you must do."

"'You disappoint me, Gryffindors'- urgh! I hate that guy, he's so _creepy!"_ Kerynn exclaimed as they made their way back towards the castle after Herbology, shuddering. "How is _he_ head of Hufflepuff?"

"No idea, if you ask me they gave Smith and Corbie the wrong jobs!" Remus agreed as they walked ahead of the others.

Kerynn pushed open the door, and stopped dead. "Re- Remus!" she gasped.

In front of her, in the middle of the entrance hall, were the dozen missing students, bound, gagged and Stunned.

"What is it?" he asked, pushing her gently out of the doorway. "Oh my... YO! Yo, you lot, come here, quick!" he called to the six Gryffindors behind them. "Come QUICK!"

James, Sirius, Peter, Talibeth, Lily and Arabella looked at each other, bewildered, then ran towards the castle.

"Remi, what is it?" Lily asked, arriving first. Remus moved aside, just inside the entrance hall, leaving Lily's line of sight clear.

"OH! That's... that's..."

"What is it?"

"Let me see!"

"SHIT!" Sirius swore loudly. "What's happened to them?"

"I think they're Stunned, I can't tell from here, though," Lily replied.

"No, I mean _that_- look at them, that's bruising there- and that one's bleeding," Sirius pointed to one of the students. He edged closer, then closer still, then edged around them, giving them a wide birth as though they had some sort of deadly contagious disease and ran up the marble stairs. "Hello? Hello?" Sirius shouted upwards, looking around the corridor and seeing nobody. "HELLO? Oh, stuff this. _Sonorus!_ **_HELLO?_** "The last shout echoed almost deafeningly around the entrance hall, and twenty nine people all slammed their hands over their ears and still heard it too clearly.

"Hello, Mr. Black. What is the problem?" Professor Philips, the Charms teacher, asked calmly, his sixth-year class behind him glowering at Sirius. "It's still ten minutes until lessons finish, at least."

"It's the missing students, sir- they're here."

Sirius gestured to where the twelve comatose students lay, and Professor Philips immediately took charge. "Berol, go to the Hospital wing, get Madam Pomfrey. Hurry! Cooper, go to Dumbledore's office, the password's Czechoslovakia, run. The rest of you, back to your houses, any classrooms you pass on the way you should tell of the situation, get the teachers down here and the students to their common rooms. Go!"

The students dispersed immediately, and Prof. Philips turned to Sirius. "Why are you here, Mr. Black?"

"We were let out of Herbology early, my friends are by the door, the Hufflepuffs stayed to tidy the greenhouse with Professor Smith."

"And why aren't _you_ tidying?"

"Erm... Professor Smith didn't want us to. Said he could do it with his students."

"Ah. Not very green-fingered, then, you or your friends," guessed Prof. Philips, sweeping down the stairs and across the hall, Sirius half-jogging to keep up, trying to distract the boy from the reality of the horror in the entrance hall.

"You could say that," Sirius admitted, and was surprised to see the Professor smiling at him.

"He wasn't either, in first year. Forgot to put earmuffs on properly when the teacher decided they were good enough to try something more challenging than the usual first year work. They were just little, itty-bitty Mandrakes, but he was out for almost twelve hours straight in the hospital wing, unconscious. You didn't hear that from me, okay?" Prof. Philips added the last sentence conspiratorially, but his voice wasn't entirely steady, as though he was nervous.

"'Course not, sir," Sirius said with a broad grin, which disappeared in a flash as he felt an arm brush past his leg. He looked down and saw one of students lying in front of him. "Gah!" he cried in shock, detouring around the body and running over to his friends, who were still waiting by the door.

Professor Philips pointed his wand at one of the students: "_Enervate,_" he said, and the student stirred slightly. He repeated the spell, pointing his wand at each of the motionless students. One of them didn't stir.

"Marian... Marian, are you okay? Professor, professor, is Marian okay?" asked a voice from the top of the marble stairs. The Professor turned to see Karen and Dorian standing uncertainly on the landing, looking down at their motionless sister.

"Dorian..."

"Don't mess us about, Professor, sir. Is she okay or not?"

Professor Philips put her fingers to the blonde girl's neck, but didn't need to feel for a pulse: her skin was icy cold to his touch. "No. I'm sorry, Karen, Dorian."

"No... NO!!!"

Karen and Dorian ran down the stairs to where her sister lay.

"Mary... come on, come back to us, Mary... please, Marian."

"You can pull through, Mary, come on."

Karen reached out to feel for a pulse, but someone caught hold of her hand with quick reflexes. Too quick. Karen looked down, and saw that it was Marian's arm. "Marian?"

"Dorian, Karen, get back!" Professor Philips cried suddenly. "Get BACK!" Dorian stumbled backwards, but Karen stayed where she was.

"Marian? Sis?" she asked, confused by the iciness of her touch but too hopeful that her sister was alive to care.

"Yes, Karen. It's me," Marian replied in a strangely musical voice, a smile on her blue lips, her eyes still closed.

_Hang on... blue?_

"What happened, Marian?" Karen asked, warily, moving to pull away, but her sister held her wrist too tightly.

"Why, _this_," Marian replied joyously, opening her eyes to reveal unearthly yellow eyes with slit-like pupils.

Karen's eyes dilated in fear, and she struggled desperately against her sister's grip.

"Are you afraid of me, Karen? Your own sister? I never hurt you before, did I?"

Karen stopped struggling and looked into the yellow eyes for any trace of her sister, and then- yes, she saw it, Marian was there, smiling reassuringly back at her from the eyes of this strange-eyed thing on the floor.

"You can trust me, Karen, I'm _her_," the creature hissed through enlarged canine teeth which now protruded over her bottom lip.

But Karen felt no fear of this creature. No, she was right, she _was_ Marian, just different somehow... but still Marian.

"Do you trust me, Karen?"

"Yes, I do," replied Karen, still looking into her sister's eyes, unable to break her gaze- it made her feel so _safe_ looking into those eyes, as though she no longer had anything to fear, as long as she carried on looking- so safe, so secure, so protected...

"Karen, no!" Dorian cried, and Professor Philips had to grab hold of her arm to stop her running to her sister's aid.

"Don't! Karen is beyond your help now, if you go over there you will just be making things worse!"

"What is that thing?" Dorian asked, staring at what used to be her sister's body.

"A vampire. And a hungry one, at that. Stay here, promise me, and don't look into her eyes. Okay? Look at me. I'm going to deal with this situation and I don't want to hurt you, or the first-years. Go and stand with them, and don't interfere. Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, the word barely audible.

Professor Philips turned around, still blocking Dorian's view, and what he saw made him freeze. No, it couldn't be... but it was: Karen's body was lying prone on the floor, a wound on the side of her neck making it obvious what had happened. He had never known a new vampire move so quickly; usually they were so disorientated at first they could barely stand, but Marian was as aware as they came. And suddenly she was no longer by her dead sister's side, but right in front of him, her arm snaking around his neck, spinning him round to face Dorian.

"No!" Dorian cried, seeing what Marian was about to do.

The vampire caught Dorian's eyes with its own. "Stay!" it hissed angrily, and Dorian found herself paralysed. "I'll deal with you later. Right now it's the Professor's turn!" The vampire smiled wildly, and was about to snap Prof. Philips' neck when two things happened at once. Firstly, Lily, Arabella, Tallibeth and Kerynn all screamed. Secondly, almost before the vampire could whip her head round, she felt a piece of wood pierce her heart, and her body disintegrated around her. "Oh...-"

Behind the cloud of dust left by Marian stood the weak form of Karen. "She didn't get me... not yet..." And with that Karen collapsed. Professor Philips strode over to her quickly and felt for her pulse: weak, but there... weaker... gone. He stood up, and glanced sorrowfully over at Dorian.

"Karen... Marian..." Dorian forced out the words, her throat feeling too constricted to breathe properly, tears seeming to blind her and choke her all at once.

"It's okay, Dorian. It's okay." Professor Philips gathered the distraught girl into his arms as she broke down completely, and that's how the teachers found the entrance hall. In the centre were eleven very disorientated students; by the door were eight white-faced first-years, and between them were a seemingly calm Professor Philips and a distraught Dorian Elmer, with an anonymous cloud settling around them.

"May the students who have just returned make their way to the Hospital Wing. First-year Gryffindors, common room, please. Staff, your Houses or the staff room," Dumbledore commanded, and they all obeyed except Professor Philips, who signalled to Dorian, and Dumbledore nodded to show that he didn't mean for Professor Philips to leave.

"In your own time, both of you. When you're ready. When you're ready."

##

A/N: Well, I don't really know what to say after that; took myself by surprise there! Vampires, eh? Didn't consciously think of that one before I tope it, believe it or not! Oh well, hope you all liked it and all that jazz.

A little bit of background for any of you who're interested; Professor Philips and the Elmer sisters lived next door to each other and so know/knew each other as neighbours; he's kind of like a surrogate uncle to them.

(#) 'Liquorice' is a password. Carina spoke to a member of the Floo Regulation Panel, and persuaded him to connect this one fireplace to the OWSS (Office for Werewolf Support Services) fireplace for two specific days every month and password protected it

Kirina


	4. Random Snippet

Pabbay

Disclaimer: Not mine. Except for Kerynn, Talibeth and the plot.

Chapter 4: Random Snippet!

"Yo James, Remus, Pete, Sis- you coming tonight?" Talibeth called to them across the common room.

"'Course, sis!" Sirius replied for all of them. "It'll have to be after 10 o'clock, though, James and I have to clean out the Owlery tonight."

"The _Owlery_? What did you do this time?" Arabella asked.

"Fake flies in the Slytherins' pumpkin juice- classic Muggle trick, worked wonders!" James replied, grinning wickedly.

"Muggle trick? How did you find out about it then?" asked Lily, merely curious rather than rude.

"Never underestimate the amount of effort we put into our pranks, Miss Evans- just because it's Muggle doesn't mean it's off-limits to _us_!" Sirius reminded her.

"Wren, it's all set up, right?" whispered Tally.

Kerynn nodded. "Me and Bella-"

"Bella and I," Lily corrected her.

"Bella and I fixed it between Defence Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic."

Tally grinned, and Kerynn couldn't help smiling back, a feeling of such happiness flooding through her at being allowed to be _normal_ for once.

"TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA!" came the holler from across the common room.

Almost as one, the entire population of Gryffindor tower made their way over to the portrait hole, and exited the wing. As usual, Sirius and the others laughed delightedly at the acknowledgement from the seventh years, even if it was just shakes of heads and mutterings about 'immature first-years'.

"So what's first?" Peter asked, looking around the circle, shivering slightly- the girls (namely Kerynn and Arabella this time) had positioned a bucket of water over the door to the first-year boys dormitory, so that when the said door was opened the bucket and its contents would fall onto the person who had opened the door- this time Peter.

Lily muttered a spell, and Peter was warm and dry again.

"Thanks Lil," he added.

"Truth or Dare!" Tally announced, happily.

"Not _again_!" Sirius groaned. "Haven't you run out of ideas for truths and dares yet?"

"My dear little brother, you should know by now that I never run out of ideas."

"It's true Siri," James told him, remembering the number of times he'd played the game with Peter, Anna, Tallibeth and Sirius.

"I know. So, who's first?"

"You," Tally replied without hesitation. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

"Alright! Let's see... Got it! You have to let James cut your hair!"

Sirius studied James, trying to determine whether or not to trust his hair to him. "Alright," he agreed.

"But! You have to let him do it _blindfold_!!!" Tallibeth continued, grinning.

"No way!" Sirius cried, tucking his ponytail protectively under his wizard's hat, which he'd been forced to wear by Professor McGonagall after she'd encountered him after his detention.

"Yes way! Or the Chicken-Walk dare!"

"What is it this time?" Sirius asked, and the others stared at him- Sirius Black, contemplating the Chicken-Walk? What was the world coming to?

"No Flying Lessons for the next three sessions," replied Lily immediately.

Sirius paled slightly. Everyone around the circle suddenly had the same thought: _stuck between a rock and a hard place_.

"Well? What's it to be, oh brave Dog-Star?" Arabella asked, somehow managing to sound both chivalrous and taunting simultaneously.

"Hair cut! Hair cut! Hair cut!" James and Tally chanted, and Peter joined in. "Hair cut! Hair cut!" Arabella's voice joined them. "Hair cut!"

"Alright!" Sirius cried, as he saw Remus open his mouth to join in. "Hair cut."

The others all cheered, and Lily looked up at the ceiling nervously, wondering how strong her silence charm was.

"Could we be a bit quieter?" she asked, nervously.

"Don't be such a worry-wart," James said with a grin, then muttered a spell and transfigured her wand into a pair of scissors and plucked them neatly from her hands. "Thank you!"

Lily scowled but remained silent; Peter tied the blindfold round James's eyes; and Sirius removed his hair from the ponytail, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. '_How did I let myself get roped into this?' _Sirius asked himself silently as he felt the first (wonky) cut being made.

After ten minutes (Peter had timed it on his watch) Tally told James to stop and remove his blindfold. Sirius immediately opened his eyes and put his hands up to feel his hair. The others, James especially, burst out laughing. Sirius glared at them and got up, and made his way over to a mirror someone had left behind in the common room.

'_Will the charm hold?'_ Lily thought suddenly as Sirius lifted the mirror up to his face. _'Nope,'_ she answered her own question as loud footsteps followed Sirius' yell.

"Boys' staircase," Kerynn muttered, identifying the source of the footsteps. "Come _on_!" she urged them, grabbing hold of the sleeves of Tally and Peter, pulling them towards the stairs that led to the girls' dorms. "Hurry, or we'll be caught!" she hissed to the others.

The others followed her up quickly, not making a sound, and the head boy arrived in the common room ten seconds too late to see Arabella disappear up the stairs. It was lucky that Lily had thought of charming the stairs, or the seventh one from the door would have creaked something terrible and given them away. Joseph Clayton looked around the room suspiciously before shaking his head and heading back up the stairs- he really ought to get more sleep, now he was _hearing_ things- and he'd thought the O.W.L.s were stressful!

"What do we do now? They can't stay here for the night!" whispered Bella.

"Too right they can't!" Tally agreed.

"James, where's your Invisibility Cloak?" Remus asked him.

"Back in the dorm, why?"

"There's a summoning charm; the forth years were practising it earlier on; do you think you could do it? You're the best of all of us at Charms. The incantation's '_accio'_."

"I could try," Lily said, still uncertain. "_Accio_ Invisibility Cloak!" she said as loudly as she dared, pointing her wand towards the boys' side of the tower.

And suddenly, there it was, the expanse of silvery material, floating towards Lily's wand.

"Wow!" James breathed, taking the Cloak from her. "Quite the charmer, aren't you?"

Lily hit him on the arm and glared at him fiercely. "'_Thank you, Lily, for summoning my Invisibility Cloak so that I'm not expelled for being in the girls' dorm at night tomorrow. I really appreciate it.'_ That's okay, James, it was my pleasure!" she half-snapped half-hissed.

"Er, yeah, that. Thanks Lil," James muttered, slightly embarrassed, pulling the Cloak over him, Sirius, Remus and Peter.

The four of them made their way to the door, down the stairs, and into their own dorm.

"Now if you could all turn to page 87 of your Potions text- yes, Mr. Pettigrew?"

"I- I've forgotten by textbook, Professor."

"Just share Miss Black's then. You shall be making the second potion on the page. All ingredients should be in your own collections- yes, Pettigrew?"

"I spilt my ingredients on the way here," he mumbled, not looking up.

"Then you're lucky you only need enough that one person can provide it all, hm? You will pay Miss Black back for half the ingredients you use. Yes, Black?"

"It was my fault Peter spilt his ingredients, sir, I bumped into him by accident."

"If it was just an accident, I thank you for your honesty, Mr. Black. Now, I believe you have a potion to brew?"

Sirius glowered at the Potions teacher, who merely smiled back, unaffected.

"Stupid Corbie, he's head of Slytherin for goodness' sake! Is one detention too much to ask?" he whined to James as they entered the Great Hall for lunch. "Or one measly house point deduction?"

"We'd been trying for four years, never got a single one, even when Marian dropped Armadillo bile on his books. Ate right the way through them," Dorian replied, as though she was seeing it all over again, a slight melancholy smile crossing her lips for the first time since her sisters had been killed. Without another word, or even turning to face the first-years, she joined the Ravenclaw table and began to eat- no meat, though, she was a vegetarian now, and no one sat next to her as the other Ravenclaws trooped into the hall. The first-years looked at each other, unsure of what to do or say.

"You go and eat. I'll join you in a minute," Kerynn told them, and the others nodded and went over to the Gryffindor table, whilst Kerynn went to the Ravenclaw table. After a slight hesitation she sat down next to Dorian, who didn't look up. "Hey."

Dorian jumped and looked up, startled. "Oh... hey..." she said, dropping her gaze again, disinterested.

"Kerynn Stevens."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?"

"Jabberwocky."

"I suppose I deserved that," Kerynn admitted, hiding a slight smile.

"Well, ask a silly question..."

"I know. But if you want to talk about it... I know what it's like to be affected by Dark creatures."

Dorian looked up, interested and sceptical simultaneously. "How?"

"Werewolf encounter. Someone close to me."

"They dead?"

Kerynn looked back at her, their eyes meeting. "No. Not dead. Just scarred."

Dorian's eyes widened. "Oh. Tough break, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Your sister?"

Kerynn hesitated. "Cousin," she said finally, feeling bad about lying but not regretting it.

"Why are you telling me this? You're a first-year, right? And a Gryffindor?"

"Doesn't matter. Just thought you might like to know you're not alone."

"Thanks. Appreciate it," replied Dorian with a wry smile at the small girl next to her, feeling a sudden sense of kinship towards her. "Thanks."

"It's okay," Kerynn said, slightly embarrassed now, unsure whether she'd done the right thing. She stood up, and began to walk over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, Kerry- I meant it, okay?"

Kerynn smiled back at her and nodded. "Okay."

##

A/N: Not much to say here, except thank you for reading, and I hope you liked it.

Kirina


End file.
